U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 5 that forces safely recovered a second airman downed in Iran, calling it "one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History.”
Trump wrote in a social media post that the aviator is injured but “will be just fine,” adding that the rescue involved “dozens of aircraft” and that the U.S. had been monitoring his location in the lead-up to his rescue.
“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” Trump wrote.
The airman's extraction followed a frantic U.S. search-and-rescue operation after the April 3 crash of the F-15E Strike Eagle, as Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in an “enemy pilot.”
A second crew member was rescued earlier.
The fighter jet was the first U.S. aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the war, now in its sixth week, erupted.
According to U.S. media, the American colonel who was stranded in rugged mountains for 48 hours after his aircraft was shot down over Iran was rescued in a cinematic operation carried out by the CIA and U.S. special forces.
The high-ranking colonel, the weapons systems officer of an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down in southwestern Iran on April 3, ejected alongside the pilot. The colonel landed in a steep and hazardous mountainous area.
According to Fox News, the seasoned serviceman relied on his survival skills, climbing to a ridge hundreds of feet high and hiding in a rock crevice for nearly 48 hours. To facilitate his recovery, the colonel reportedly used an encrypted communication device or activated a special beacon or flare to signal his location to U.S. forces.
Before special forces entered the area, the CIA launched a sophisticated disinformation campaign inside Iran.
False intelligence suggesting that the colonel had already been located and was being evacuated by ground vehicle was disseminated to mislead Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
While Iranian units searched in the wrong directions, the CIA pinpointed the colonel’s exact location in a mountain ravine and shared the information with the White House.
According to a senior official, there was no direct close-quarters clash between U.S. and Iranian forces during the operation. However, the U.S. military subjected the area to intense bombardment and suppressive fire to keep Revolutionary Guard units and local Basij militias away from the extraction zone.
Trump also followed the operation in real time from the White House Situation Room.
On April 5, Iran’s state TV aired a video showing thick black smoke rising into the air, claiming that they had shot down an American transport plane and two helicopters that were part of the rescue operation.
However, a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission told media that the U.S. military blew up two transport planes due to a technical malfunction, forcing it to bring in additional aircraft to complete the rescue.
